Units / Utah / Unit 185

Unit research · Utah Unit 185

San Juan, Elk Ridge — Utah

100% public across 1,973,470 ac. Real backcountry here — 35% of the public land sits more than a mile from any road. Almost none of the public land is landlocked.

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Deer draw odds (4)Odds and pins: free, no account

Unit 185Full map — ownership, roads, wind →

3,530–9,290 ft

elevation range

100%

public land

35%

of public >1 mi from a road

2 ac

landlocked public

0.73

road miles per mi²

2,026 mi

maintained trails

Computed from primary government data by the open pipeline. See the code →

Tags & season

Draw hunts on this ground.

4 limited-entry deer hunts are drawn on Unit 185: apply in the Utah draw, by the agency's deadline below.

Deer tag · 4 draw hunts (2026)$56.00 resident · $620.00 nonresident

Plus: Utah 365-day hunting license$40.00 resident · $144.00 nonresident

Season dates: see Utah Division of Wildlife Resources's regulations

2026 Utah Big Game Application Guidebook (fees, dates, permit table) ↗

UDWR licenses ↗Draw odds for Utah deer →How the Utah draw works →

Fees and draw dates from Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, 2026, verified 2026-08-12 — past its verify-by date, confirm with the agency. Tag type from the agency's published draw statistics: a unit that appears in none of them has no limited-entry hunt we know of. Source: 2026 Utah Big Game Application Guidebook (fees, dates, permit table) · Utah Admin. Code R657-62-8 — bonus points, 50% reservation · UDWR licenses.

Land & access

■ BLM 60%■ NPS 21%■ USFS 12%■ Other public 6%□ Private 0%

Unit area1,973,470 ac

Public land1,963,756 ac (100%)

Landlocked public2 ac (0.0%)

Motorized routes (MVUM + roads)2,251 mi

Maintained trails2,026 mi

Backcountry

Public land >1 mi from a road678,255 ac (35% of public)

Road density0.73 mi/mi²

Managed byBLM 1191k ac · NPS 418k ac · USFS 234k ac

Elevation3,530–9,290 ft

Median elevation5,530 ft

Median slope7°

Where the ground sits

3,530 ft9,290 ft

Tap or hover the bars for each elevation band

Slope mix

Which way the slopes face

N 24%

E 24%

S 24%

W 28%

Share of ground steeper than 5° — flat ground has no facing

North slopes hold shade, cover and snow; south slopes open first.

USGS 3DEP 1 arc-second (30 m), slope at native resolution in a local metric projection, sampled on a 200 m grid. See the code →

Unit intelligence report

107,289 ac of this unit has burned — 5% of the unit. The full report assembles it into one printable document and keeps it current as the facts change.

Open the report →

How these numbers are made

public_land_pct = public_area / unit_area
landlocked = public ∖ reachable(roads, corners)
remote = public ∖ buffer(roads, 1 mi)
# AGPL — read the pipeline →

Computed, not curated: no paid research team, no opinions dressed as data. If a number looks wrong, file an issue — the fix ships for everyone.

Nearby units

San Juan, South · Unit 310100% public · 36% remote San Juan Bull Elk · Unit 18392% public · 27% remote San Juan, Mancos Mesa · Unit 929100% public · 49% remote San Juan, San Juan River · Unit 309100% public · 47% remote San Juan, North · Unit 308100% public · 45% remote San Juan, Abajo Mtns · Unit 61873% public · 4% remote

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